'Mythbusters' hosts to confirm their experiences

Georgette Braun

Tuesday

Sep 29, 2009 at 12:01 AMSep 29, 2009 at 11:57 AM

You’ve heard this expression: It’ll knock your socks off. But can that be? Can someone/something literally knock the socks off your feet? You’ll have to tune into The Discovery Channel’s “MythBusters” to find out. Kari Byron and Grant Imihara, two of the show's co-hosts, will be in Rockford on Saturday at the Coronado Performing Arts Center to talk about their experiences.

You’ve heard this expression: It’ll knock your socks off.

But can that be? Can someone/something literally knock the socks off your feet?

You’ll have to tune into The Discovery Channel’s “MythBusters,” maybe on the TV show’s Oct. 7 seventh-season premiere, to find out. The show determines whether the myth being tested was busted, found plausible or confirmed.

But “MythBusters” co-host Kari Bryon said the show “took it to the craziest level” to prove the saying, which is rooted in boxing.

“We put a fist on an air compressor, did crash tests, used explosives,” Bryon said in a telephone interview last week from her San Francisco home.

Byron and Grant Imahara, another co-host, will be in Rockford on Saturday at the Coronado Performing Arts Center to talk about their experiences. Questions from the audience are welcome. They will not perform any experiments.

Their appearance is a fundraiser for the Discovery Center Museum by its auxiliary. Ann Marie Walker, marketing manager for Discovery Center, said the duo was chosen because “they are cool people who have a passion for science and who do science in a fun, entertaining and educational way. ... We want to show children that science is cool, interesting and fun.”

By Georgette Braun of the Rockford Register Star, whose lifetime of science experiments couldn’t hold a candle to one episode of “MythBusters” activities. But what if she did hold a candle next to the TV when the show was on. Would she technically be “busted”? Contact her at gbraun@rrstar.com.

One favorite myth tested: Diving in the Bahamas at night while testing if sharks are attracted to flashlights. They are. “It was so scary,” she said. “All of us were hyperventilating.”

She wishes that: “MythBusters” would have existed when she was a kid. “I really would have fallen in love with science. It has become so much more fun to me.”

What she hopes the Rockford audience will learn from her visit here: “The whole thing with the show is, we are not scientists. You are on the journey of discovery with us.”

On her being named among the top 100 Sexiest Women in the World by FHM magazine in 2007 and 2008: “It is super flattering. I guess it just shows that some boys like brains.”

Profile: Grant Imahara
Age: 38

Career: Co-host of “MythBusters”; developed a custom circuit to cycle the Energizer Bunny’s arm beats and ears at a constant rate; author of “Kickin’ Bot: An Illustrated Guide to Building
Combat Robots,” considered a bible for that sport; previously, animatronics engineer and model-maker for filmmaker George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic in California; has installed electronics in R2-D2 units for “Star Wars” Episodes I and II.

Education: Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering

Favorite things about his job: “I get the opportunity to flex my mechanical skills, but the most fun is going a lot of places,” he said in a telephone interview Monday with the Register Star. For example, he toured the engine of a cruise liner. The reason: “MythBusters” was testing whether it was possible to water ski behind a cruise liner.

An episode he says viewers won’t want to miss: The Oct. 14 episode where the crew builds a cannon out of duct tape to see if it is capable of firing a cannon ball. And then they fire away.